Darksiders II

Darksiders II

Developer(s)	Vigil Games
Publisher(s)	THQ
First release date	14 August 2012

Darksiders

Darksiders	2010
Darksiders II	2012

Key points

THQ promised to implement a configuration file to customise the experience, but this has not yet been implemented.

The game has been ported poorly with numerous configuration and launching issues.

General information

THQ Darksider II Forum - General Discussion - not PC-specific.

THQ Darksider II Forum - Technical Help & Bug Reporting - not PC-specific.

Steam Forum - Darksiders - general forum for Darksiders series.

Steam Community Discussion

Availability

Source(s)	Store unlock	Notes
Digital Distribution		All versions unlock on Steam.
Steam

All versions require Steam.

A THQ account is not required for this game.

Video settings

Graphics option	Native	WSGF	Notes
Widescreen resolution
Multi-monitor			Limited support.
Field of view (FOV)		No FOV option. Can use Widescreen Fixer for a mild increase.
Windowed
Borderless fullscreen windowed		See Borderless fullscreen windowed.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)		See Anisotropic filtering (AF).
Anti-aliasing (AA)		Added in Update 3.
Vertical sync (Vsync)		See Vertical sync (Vsync).

The settings are only available after the cinematic introduction displayed when starting a new game. No real "Main menu" before starting/loading a game.

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Vsync setting did nothing at launch, but was fixed with the first patch.

Fixes screen tearing and caps framerate to the monitor's refresh rate. Can help with stuttering.

On some systems (tested on a Windows 7 PC with a GeForce GTX 560 Ti), forcing Vsync causes additional stuttering as the framerate randomly changes back and forth between 30 and 60 fps. Forcing Triple Buffering with D3DOverrider should fix this but it doesn't.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Borderless fullscreen windowed • Link Forcing Borderless fullscreen windowed mode with any tool (see previous link) works and can, in combination with Vsync, fix this stuttering and make the game run at a smooth framerate matching the monitor refresh rate.

Anisotropic filtering (AF)

No in-game setting for Anisotropic Filtering. The type and amount of filtering used when not forced is unknown.

Graphics Adaptor • Link Anistropic Filtering (preferably 16x) can be forced for this game in the graphics adapter settings (NVIDIA or AMD Catalyst Control Panel).

Anti-aliasing (AA)

Natively available.

Graphics Adaptor • Link Anti-aliasing can be enabled in-game thanks to the current update which was released on Steam September 7th, 2012. Nvidia, has no profile for Darksiders 2, and the Darksiders 1 profile causes severe graphics glitches if you attempt to use it. Until a new driver is released with an updated profile, expect issues when attempting to force anti-aliasing apart from FXAA (which is fast and works fine for this game, but is arguably inferior to MSAA, CSAA...) and SSAA. Remember that the performance costs of SSAA are very high. For the time being it might be a good idea to only use FXAA or look toward using a higher quality injector that bypasses the driver "hacks" that allow AA to function via the control panel, e.g. SMAA Injector, if you are an nVidia user.

Camera Turns While Strafing

Camera appears to turn towards target while strafing. No fix is available yet.

Input settings

Input Settings	Native	Notes
Remapping		See Key Remapping.
Mouse acceleration		No option to disable mouse acceleration.
Controller support		For people using a 360 controller, Toggle Overworld Map is incorrectly labeled as "A". The correct key is Left Thumbstick Click

Key Remapping

Remappable keys.

Key remapping menu is now added the options menu, as well as the previous location in the inventory menu, accessible with the 'O' key.

Some keyboard keys cannot be mapped to game commands, like Delete, or num_del, Insert keys. Also, Arrow keys, END, HOME, PGUP, PGDN, etc. are displayed as "UNKNOWN KEY" then setting it again displays as NUMPAD keys. Does not seem too bad, but UNKNOWN KEY can only be bound once. Arrows are functional still after this binding as NUM keys, but you cannot bind any NUMPAD keys as it is seen as already bound. "I" is hardbound to PAUSE, so that is also not "remappable".

If a key is already bound, you have to remap the action using that key before you can use it. This sends you on a goose chase if you need to remap the majority of the keys.

Each time you set a key your entire page scrolls back to the very top so you need to scroll all the way back down again (using your w,s,UP,DWN keys that require constant pressing as holding does not scroll, and cannot use the mouse scrollwheel) to get back to the section you were configuring.

The E key is hardcoded into the game and cannot be bound to certain actions (e.g. Move Horse Forward)

Disabling intro logos

To make the game reach the menu faster rename the following files to something else. All of them can be found under

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Darksiders 2\media\videos\

• 2011_THQ_Logo_FadeOut_720p.bik
• Vigil_Logo1280x720.bik

System requirements

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	Windows XP, Vista SP1, 7	Windows 7
Processor (CPU)	2.0Ghz Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor or AMD equivalent	Any Quad-core AMD or Intel Processor
System memory (RAM)	2 GB	2 GB
Video card (GPU)	NVIDIA 9800 GT 512 MB Video Card or AMD equivalent	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 512MB Video Card or AMD equivalent
Hard disk drive (HDD)	20 GB free (10GB free after install)	20 GB free (10GB free after install)

Issues fixed

Stuttering

Caused by uncapped framerate.

Enable vsync • Link Enable vsync in the video options.

Enable vsync and borderless windowed fullscreen mode • Link

Use the Skyrim Stuttering fix • Link If all else fails, copy the files from the Skyrim Stuttering fix into the Darksiders 2 main directory. Surprisingly it works with D2 as well.

High System Temperatures

Caused by uncapped framerate.

Use D3DOverrider • Link Refer to D3DOverrider to force vsync to limit framerate and temperatures.

Stuck After Start Game

Caused by slowdown in internet connection as game checks for THQ account.

Wait For THQ Authentication • Link

3D Vision effects not rendering correctly

Using 3D Vision in the game is subpar to what it could be, with effects and shadows not rendering at the correct depth.

Use Helix Mod • Link Use the Helix mod to improve the 3D effects in the game. Helix Mod WebPage

Using a 360 controller, only items from the first 3 rows can be sacrificed to upgrade a possessed weapon

This was initially a problem at launch, but was fixed in the second patch. Now items beyond the third row can be easily selected for sacrificing.

Low field of view

Use Widescreen Fixer for an increased FOV.

Issues unresolved

Karkinos Does Not React To Eggs Thrown (Thus UNBEATABLE)

The only known "solution" is to get closer before you throw the egg at the soft part. It may be difficult but seems to be the only way to circumvent the problem. die twice is another way ,

When i get the Redemption, i can't use it, cause it didn't load itself. ( You can hear the 'klak' voice but nothing happened!)

A common, unresolved issue.